In what was his last visit to the Broome Tioga Sports Center, Team Makita Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael scored a thrilling win and along the way wrapped up his 10th AMA National Championship. For Carmichael, the first moto win came relatively easily and he clinched his championship in grand style, but the second go-round saw the gritty Suzuki rider thrill the crowd with a come from behind win after a get-off early in the moto.

“Winning the championship is unbelievable, said RC. “I’ve had quite a career and this is the icing on the cake. When I went down in moto two and got up behind Bubba I knew I was gonna have to work for it, but I wanted to give it my all for the fans.

And give it his all he did. The Binghamton crowd was cheering and hollering as RC stalked Stewart for several laps, finally making the pass and securing the overall win in the uphill section that preceded the tricky Supercross-style portion of the course. Rounding out the podium were Stewart, who was consistently good with a 2-2 tally, and Windham, who had a similar 3-3 score.

In the Motocross Lites class, Team Makita Suzuki’s Broc Hepler earned his second consecutive win with a win in the first moto and a conservative third in moto two.

“It feels great to be back up top, said Hepler, who hails from nearby Pennsylvania. “I had a lot of fans here today and they kept me pushing forward. Second overall went to new championship points leader Ryan Villopoto aboard his Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki, while rookie Josh Hill earned third in only his second National aboard a factory Yamaha YZ250F.

Rainfall on Saturday turned the track into a quagmire, but fair weather on Sunday and lots of hard work by the Broome Tioga track crew had the race course in superb condition. Large, deep ruts formed in many corners, but there were remarkably no puddles of standing water on the course.

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LITES MOTO ONE

Mike Alessi snared the holeshot in the first moto, while the majority of his major competitors were caught up in a huge first-turn pileup. Among those in the crash were Villopoto and Short, and both remounted quickly and put on a pair of tremendous charges towards the front. Alessi’s lead was short-lived, as he threw it away before the second corner. Sadly for the Red Bull KTM squad, Alessi was forced to retire without even getting a lap under his belt, as his bike was damaged after being hit by several riders.

Hepler took control on the first lap and for all intent and purposes, the moto was over. The Suzuki rider checked out up front, leaving Yamaha of Troy’s Matt Walker and Hill to battle over the runner-up position. Hill dogged Walker for several laps before finally finding his way past. Walker lost his goggles and dropped to an eventual 10th. Once into second, Hill rode solo to the checkers in what was only his third AMA Motocross Lites National moto. Third at the finish went to Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Troy Adams. The Floridian started towards the front of the pack and held his own as he earned the first podium moto finish of his career. Remarkably, Villopoto worked up to fourth at the finish, capitalizing on Alessi’s demise and taking over the series points lead in the process.

RESULTS

Broc Hepler (Suz)

Josh Hill (Yam)

Troy Adams (Kaw)

Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)

Kelly Smith (Hon)

Ryan Sipes (Suz)

Andrew Short (Hon)

Brett Metcalfe (Yam)

Matt Goerke (Yam)

Matt Walker (Yam)

Paul Carpenter (Hon)

Thomas Hahn (Hon)

Ryan Dungey (Suz)

Danny Smith (Suz)

Tucker Hibbery (Yam)

Sean Collier (Yam)

Chris Gosselaar (Kaw)

Steve Boniface (Hon)

Brian Grey (Suz)

Phillip Nicoletti (Hon)

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MOTOCROSS MOTO ONE

Holeshot artist Davi Millsaps snared the holeshot aboard his factory Honda CRF450R, but Carmichael took over up front early on and pulled another one of his runaway wins en route to the 10th National Championship of his career. Stewart moved into second in the beginning of the race and did his best to stay on RC’s tail, but at the finish there was a 20-second gap separating the two.

Millsaps and Windham battled tooth in nail over the final podium position throughout most of the moto, but Windham took over for good when the Honda teammates came together a few laps from the end. Millsaps came up with the short end of the stick and found himself on the ground, but he was able to remount quickly enough to salvage fourth. Moto XXX’s Tim Ferry put on a strong charge though the field to earn fifth at the checkers, having displaced Team Honda’s Travis Preston and Suzuki’s Ivan Tedesco along the way.

“It was a hard-fought battle, but I am happy to have the title wrapped up and out of the way, said RC. “Now, I can enjoy the rest of the season and concentrate on leading Team USA in the Motocross of Nations.

RESULTS

Ricky Carmichael (Suz)

James Stewart (Kaw)

Kevin Windham (Hon)

Davi Millsaps (Hon)

Tim Ferry (Hon)

Travis Preston (Hon)

Ivan Tedesco (Suz)

David Vuillemin (Yam)

Nick Wey (Hon)

Heath Voss (Yam)

Kyle Lewis (Hon)

josh Summey (Hon)

Mike Brown (Suz)

Josh Woods (Suz)

Jason Thomas (Hon)

Michael Byrne (Kaw)

Kyle Mace (Kaw)

Clark Stiles (Yam)

Ryan Clark (Hon)

Jesh Demuth (Hon)

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LITES MOTO TWO

Hepler was the fast starter in the final Motocross Lites moto, but Villopoto stole the lead on the first lap and checked out, establishing a healthy lead on the very first lap. Out front, RV built a substantial lead that would see him take the checkers over 15 seconds ahead of eventual second-place finisher Short, who also displaced Hepler on the fourth lap. Though he was able to start out front, Short was unable to match the pace set by Villopoto, but easily out of reach of Hepler, who appeared to settle into a pace, knowing that the overall win was his. “They kicked my butt out there in the second moto, admitted Hepler. “But the overall win is what counts and it feels great to win two in a row!

Fourth at the finish was Alessi, doing his best to keep his championship hopes alive. “I had some terrible luck in the first moto, but that doesn’t mean I am giving up, he said. “We have four motos left and anything can happen.

Hill crossed the finish line alone in fifth, which was good enough to help him earn third overall. “It feels awesome to get up on the podium, said the likable new Yamaha rider. “I had a pretty miserable pro debut in Millville, and I just felt great about this race all weekend long.

RESULTS

Ryan Villopoto (Yam)

Andrew Short (Hon)

Broc Hepler (Suz)

Mike Alessi (KTM)

Josh Hill (Yam)

Brett Metcalfe (Yam)

Ryan Sipes (Suz)

Danny Smith (Hon)

Matt Walker (Yam)

Kelly Smith (Hon)

Tommy Hahn (Hon)

Josh Grant (Hon)

Ryan Dungey (Suz)

Paul Carpenter (Hon)

Andrew McFarlane (Yam)

Matt Goerke (Yam)

Sean Collier (Yam)

Martin Davalos (Yam)

Jason Lawrence (Suz)

Steve Boniface (Hon)

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LITES OVERALL RESULTS

Broc Hepler (Suz)

Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)

Josh Hill (Yam)

Andrew Short (Hon)

Ryan Sipes (Suz)

Brett Metcalfe (Yam)

Kelly Smith (Hon)

Matt Walker (Yam)

Danny Smith (Hon)

Troy Adams (Kaw)

Tommy Hahn (Hon)

Mike Alessi (KTM)

Paul Carpenter (Hon)

Matt Goerke (Yam)

Ryan Dungey (Suz)

Josh Grant (Hon)

Sean Collier (yam)

Andrew McFarlane (Yam)

Tucker Hibbert (Yam)

Steve Boniface (Hon)

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LITES POINTS STANDINGS

Ryan Villopoto (391)

Mike Alessi (371)

Andrew Short (359)

Josh Grant (297)

Brett Metcalfe (272)

Andrew McFarlane (235)

Broc Hepler (223)

Matt Goerke (186)

Troy Adams (172)

Nathan Ramsey (168)

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MOTOCROSS MOTO TWO

Millsaps led the charge again in the second moto, but RC—wearing a fresh new number-one jersey—took over four corners into the moto. Just when everyone thought it would be another RC runaway, however, the champ lost control of his bike in a tight section of the track and went down, breaking his visor and dropping to second behind Stewart. “I hit a rock or a square edge and the bike just kicked out from under me, said RC. “I got up and knew I had my work cut out for me with James out front, but I put my head down and just charged.

Stewart and Carmichael thrilled the crowd as they battled for the lead; RC slowly but surely reeling in the leader and shadowing him for several laps before finally making his way past with several laps left in the moto. RC pulled next to Stewart several times before making a pass in an uphill section of the track, and once out front he began to immediately establish a lead over his Florida neighbor. In the closing stages of the moto, Carmichael slowed with a flat front tire, but he had established enough of a lead to settle into a more conservative pace without being seriously threatened by Stewart.

At the checkers, RC enjoyed a slight lead over Stewart, who in turn had a massive lead over Windham, who took over the final spot on the podium at the halfway point and rode home uncontested. Windham’s 3-3 score was good enough for third overall, edging out Millsaps’ 4-4 scores for fourth overall.

RESULTS

Ricky Carmichael (Suz)

James Stewart (Kaw)

Kevin Windham (Hon)

Davi Millsaps (Hon)

Tim Ferry (Hon)

Nick Wey (Hon)

Mike Brown (Suz)

David Vuillemin (Yam)

Travis Preston (Hon)

Ivan Tedesco (Suz)

Josh Summey (Hon)

Clark Stiles (Hon)

Daniel Sani (Hon)

Justin Buckelew (Hon)

Jason Thomas (Hon)

Jeff Gibson (Hon)

Kyle Mace (Kaw)

Michael Blose (Hon)

Doug Dehaan (Hon)

Brad Modjeski (Hon)

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MOTOCROSS OVERALL RESULTS

Ricky Carmichael (Suz)

James Stewart (Kaw)

Kevin Windham (Hon)

Davi Millsaps (Hon)

Tim Ferry (Hon)

Nick Wey (Hon)

Travis Preston (Hon)

David Vuillemin (Yam)

Ivan Tedesco (Suz)

Mike Brown (Suz)

Josh Summey (Hon)

Clark Stiles (Hon)

Jason Thomas (Hon)

Heath Voss (Yam)

Kyle Lewis (Hon)

Daniel Sani (Hon)

Kyle Mace (Kaw)

Justin Buckelew (Yam)

Josh Woods (Suz)

Jeff Gibson (Hon)

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MOTOCROSS POINTS STANDINGS

Rickll (Yam)

Andrew Short (Hon)

Ryan Sipes (Suz)

Brett Metcalfe (Yam)

Kelly Smith (Hon)

Matt Walker (Yam)

Danny Smith (Hon)

Troy Adams (Kaw)

Tommy Hahn (Hon)

Mike Alessi (KTM)

Paul Carpenter (Hon)

Matt Goerke (Yam)

Ryan Dungey (Suz)

Josh Grant (Hon)

Sean Collier (yam)

Andrew McFarlane (Yam)

Tucker Hibbert (Yam)

Steve Boniface (Hon)

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LITES POINTS STANDINGS

Ryan Villopoto (391)

Mike Alessi (371)

Andrew Short (359)

Josh Grant (297)

Brett Metcalfe (272)

Andrew McFarlane (235)

Broc Hepler (223)

Matt Goerke (186)

Troy Adams (172)

Nathan Ramsey (168)

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MOTOCROSS MOTO TWO

Millsaps led the charge again in the second moto, but RC—wearing a fresh new number-one jersey—took over four corners into the moto. Just when everyone thought it would be another RC runaway, however, the champ lost control of his bike in a tight section of the track and went down, breaking his visor and dropping to second behind Stewart. “I hit a rock or a square edge and the bike just kicked out from under me, said RC. “I got up and knew I had my work cut out for me with James out front, but I put my head down and just charged.

Stewart and Carmichael thrilled the crowd as they battled for the lead; RC slowly but surely reeling in the leader and shadowing him for several laps before finally making his way past with several laps left in the moto. RC pulled next to Stewart several times before making a pass in an uphill section of the track, and once out front he began to immediately establish a lead over his Florida neighbor. In the closing stages of the moto, Carmichael slowed with a flat front tire, but he had established enough of a lead to settle into a more conservative pace without being seriously threatened by Stewart.

At the checkers, RC enjoyed a slight lead over Stewart, who in turn had a massive lead over Windham, who took over the final spot on the podium at the halfway point and rode home uncontested. Windham’s 3-3 score was good enough for third overall, edging out Millsaps’ 4-4 scores for fourth overall.